Astraphobia
by Epsarrow
Summary: Astraphobia is the fear of thunderstorms. Lincoln is afraid of thunderstorms. Will the others notice? A bored humor-fic. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I do not own The River or its characters. Original idea for this story. No copyright infringement is intended.

Note: I write one-shots during writers block of my multi-chapter story(s). Sometimes I'm just bored and have an idea. Like this one. I tried to make it funny, but I may have failed. Please review to tell me what you think. :)

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><p><strong>Lincoln Cole<strong>

The downpour started just before dawn. Their tents, although designed for some weather, could not combat such a force. It was as though the entire Amazon was being torn apart. The wind whipped by and the sounds of trees falling, branches breaking, and other strange noises were rocketing the area. The rain hit the ground in droves, leaving deep scars in the soil, and waking Lincoln up just as the tent collapsed on top of him. The half-awake shots of his crew-mates woke him from his startled daze.

As she worked to untangle himself from the net, he was soaking wet in seconds. His struggling turned into angry thrashing as he continued to find the tent tightening around him as the fabric twisted in the effort to keep him stuck.

Someone tore through the webbing and dragged him out by one arm.

"It was already ruined," Kurt said, shoving him towards the rest of the bedraggled group. A.J. was trying to get him out of a similar situation, but it was just his legs stuck. First things first.

"Mom, you alright?" He immediately checked on her. All good.

He passed an eye around everyone else. Everyone was fine.

A lightning bolt lit up the sky. A moment later he flinched and grimaced when thunder shook the air. There were only two people here who knew he was afraid of thunderstorms. His mom and Lena. He remembered a night on the Magus back when they were young when a storm whirled in. _The thunder was so loud that he thought the boat was going to break apart and the pieces float away in to the distance. He ran and hid in his room, curling up under the covers and tried to sleep. _

_The thunder was similar to the hammering of his heart and he had buried his head in to the pillow to the lightning flash wouldn't scare him. But the thunder had continued to shake the boat and echo across the_sky.

"Lincoln,"Lena's voice made him jump. She was watching him curiously but there was half a smile on her face. He scowled. She was going to tease him about his fear in front of everyone, wasn't she? She wouldn't be that mean. "Let's get back to the ship. We can't do anything in this weather," she said instead.

Lincoln felt an immediate sense of relief, and then nearly leaped out of his skin when lightning hit and thunder growled simultaneously.

A.J. was cursing like a sailor about his cameras getting wet and ruined in the rain. The weather forecast on the boat hadn't shown a storm coming. He hadn't brought any waterproof gear and he would complain for the next week about the weather in the jungle and the fact that they were still out here, wasting time. Lincoln decided to ignore him.

The ground was nothing but mud. He cursed as he sloshed through a puddle that nearly went past his ankles. They were all going to get sick if they didn't get back in warm, dry clothes soon.

Up ahead, Clark slipped and nearly sent up a tidal wave of mud. He began to swear while everyone else tried to keep a straight face.

"Be careful, it's wet!" A.J. called up.

"Shut up!" Clark cursed against as he tried to keep his balance on the flooded ground.

Then came the loudest bang of thunder that he had ever heard in his life. He thought the ground was going to split open as the jungle roared in his ears. "Holy s**t," he jumped, shutting his eyes as his heart thudded wildly. He tried to wrap his jacket tighter around himself and continued to walk forward, opening his eyes just as a large plant slapped him in the face.

They had just reached the river banking and they saw that the water had swelled frighteningly high since they had left. The Magus was thumping along the bank, barely held in place by the anchor they had dropped.

Somehow, miraculously, the rain began to lessen as they made their way to the boat and started to climb. He peered up at the sky to see the swirling black begin to move away, leaving behind a thick grey cluster. Still could be a big storm. Better to just stay indoors and wait it out than go out and risk getting hit by something that powerful again.

Lena had got to the top, and silently feeling a great rush of relief that it seemed no one else had noticed his jumping, he started to climb.

He had nearly reached the top when another smash of thunder startled him and he slipped. If it wasn't for Lena - probably having expected him to scare himself off the latter - grabbing him, he would have fallen right in to the water. "Thanks," he mumbled, steadying his breathing. God, he hated thunderstorms. Why did it have to have thundered _right_then? He'd rather be in his room hiding just out of sight than have them watch him as he tried not to go into full panic mode over a couple flashes of light and shaking thunder.

They were all soaking wet - some covered in mud like Clark - and others just dripping with rain water. He didn't mind rain that much if it was cool and calm. But rain like this was the kind he hated. Violent downpours that more often than not led to the worst storm the world had to offer - thunderstorms.

Sighing, he realized that no one was giving him a funny look. They must not have noticed. The rungs were wet; he had probably simply lost his balance.

He turned to go to his cabin to change in to a dry pair of clothes when Clark called out to him.

"Be careful. It's thundering and you might trip."

Snickering followed as he went red with embarrassment and fled the room.


End file.
